Fin-nor's beginnings go back to the glory days of big game fishing, when angling greats such as Ernest Hemingway, Tommy Gifford and Alfred Glassell, Jr. were expanding sportfishing's horizons. The Fin-nor brand was born in a Miami machine shop where they produced their first big game reel in 1933. It weighed 35 pounds and was large enough to fill a sizable water bucket. Capt. Tommy Gifford, collaborator on the reel design, caught a 527-pound Bluefin tuna at Cat Cay on his reel, and Fin-nor took off from there.